11th Nov 2015 07:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - SSE PLC Wednesday said its pretax profit fell in the first half of the financial year due to a number of exceptional items, but the energy company still upped its dividend and reported a substantial rise in revenue in the period.
The FTSE 100-listed UK energy company reported a pretax profit of GBP230.8 million in the six months ended September 30, falling from GBP316.6 million a year earlier.
The main cause for the fall was exceptional items and remeasurements totalling GBP287.3 million compared to only GBP18.0 million a year earlier. Profit before tax and those items rose to GBP518.1 million from the GBP334.6 million a year earlier.
Importantly, SSE said it usually generates around one quarter of its full year profit before tax and items in the first half of the financial year, but said "it is more likely" to have earned over one third of its full year profit in the first six months of the current financial year.
"There should always be a degree of caution about half-year results, yet SSE has made a solid start to the 2015/16 financial year. Whilst market conditions can be challenging, SSE is a resilient business built for the long-term," said Chairman Richard Gillingwater.
Revenue in the first half of the financial year experienced a large lift to GBP13.83 billion from GBP12.41 billion a year earlier.
Operating profit in the half rose to GBP701.9 million from GBP529.8 million a year ago, mainly driven by large rises in its wholesale and retail divisions, partially offset by a small fall in operating profit from its networks divisions.
SSE upped its interim dividend for the first half by 1% to 26.9 pence per share.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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